


Reckless Good

by gaslightgallows (hearts_blood)



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: M/M, Pining, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Pre-Relationship, The Tesseract (Marvel), Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-02
Updated: 2019-08-02
Packaged: 2020-07-29 02:07:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20074348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hearts_blood/pseuds/gaslightgallows
Summary: Loki's been on a weird journey since using the Tesseract to escape the Avengers.





	Reckless Good

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: “If I love you, what business is it of yours?” (Steve/Loki) (Anonymous)
> 
> This was supposed to be a drabble but it got a little bit long...
> 
> If you're over on Tumblr, please consider following me at [gaslightgallows.tumblr.com](https://gaslightgallows.tumblr.com) for more fic, reblogs about writing, and lots of randomness.
> 
> I also write original fiction! You can find it at [aflinley.com](http://www.aflinley.com).
> 
> Thank you for reading and especially for commenting. Comments are love. ♥

Loki looked over the rim of the shield pinning him to the ground by the throat and saw a very annoyed Captain America glaring at him. "You," said Steve, "are following me."

"I am not!"

"You _are_, and I don't know how you're doing it, but it needs to stop."

_It was the Tesseract's doing, of course, Loki realized very quickly. Like calling to like, pulling him through the fabric of space-time with every one of Captain Rogers' jumps like a very confused needle. No matter how many times Loki used his own Tesseract to portal away, whenever Rogers was done, wherever he went next, Loki went as well. _

_It didn't make any sense. He only had the six stones to return, and apparently a limited amount of the power source that allowed him to travel through time, so why was he wasting them? The sooner Rogers completed his task, the sooner he could go home -- and the sooner he could stop inconveniencing Loki._

_Not until Rogers got side-tracked yet again from returning his Tesseract to the army base where he had stolen it from did Loki realize: he was getting distracted by **heroics**. The big blond do-gooder simply couldn't stop helping people._

"I assure you, I'm as perplexed by this turn of events as you are."

"I'm not perplexed, I'm pissed off. You've been following me through time and space for the past I don't even know how long. I don't care what you're doing or what you're planning--"

"Why would you insinuate that I might possibly be planning something?"

"--but it stops _now_, Loki, you hear me?"

_He did none of it for glory, to Loki's astonishment. He kept the shield and Mjolnir (and Loki's eyes nearly jumped out of his head when he saw Rogers carrying **that**) out of sight whenever possible, using them only as an extreme last resort, but regardless of the method, he strove to leave as quickly as he came, pausing occasionally to clean up the mess he'd made or to make sure that the people he helped would stay safe._

_It was utterly foreign to Loki, this calm, steady, righteous and furious doing of what was right and just solely because it was right and just. He'd never heard of such a concept in all his born days. Even in the ridiculous old tales of Asgardian heroes, no one ever did anything simply because it was the right thing to do. What was the point of doing anything if no one knew about it, and no one told tales of your deeds when you were gone?_

_But that was what Rogers did. And as he was dragged from temporal pillar to temporal post, Loki found himself admiring the man. And envying him the freedom of doing what he pleased, without king or care._

_Somewhere along the way, his grudging admiration turned into grudging respect. Where the desire to emulate Rogers came from, Loki had no idea. Probably a result of being confined to his long-distance company for so long; it hadn't taken Rogers many jumps to realize he was being followed, though he hadn't caught Loki until now. Loki doubted he comprehended how many of his unselfish deeds had been helped by Loki's own magic and quick-thinking._

_Well, if Rogers could do reckless good without a thought for his own valor or legacy, then so could Loki. The way things were going, he was never going to escape this twisted timestream, so why not? It was something to do._

"If I could stop it, believe me, I would. I've no wished to be dragged through the last seventy years over and over like some kind of cursed fishing net. Unfortunately, until you put your Tesseract back, where it goes, mine follows. And if you insist on ignoring your primary mission to rescue every hungry urchin and street cat you come across, you're going to find yourself stuck here very quickly."

Steve gritted his teeth. "That's not your concern."

"Isn't it? Do you think I want to be stuck trailing you through the timestream for the rest of your natural life, however long that is?" Gingerly, Loki put his hand on the rim of the shield, and Steve allowed him to sit up. "You know, if you combine the power of the Space and Time stones, you could put the rest of the stones back where you found them and then just continue doing all of your good deeds until you got bored with them. That way you'd save whatever's left of the... Pym particles?"

"...If I do that, you're just going to keep getting dragged through time with me. Like a cursed fishing net." Steve looked at him with a hooded, thoughtful expression. "So what's in it for you? What're you trying to catch this time?"

"A ride home. I need to get back to my own time and place, after all."

"You're magic, you could go back whenever you wanted. So what's the catch?"

Loki was silent for a moment. "Perhaps I've simply grown used to your company."

"'My company.' We haven't exactly spent much quality time together."

_Sometimes when Rogers was asleep, or simply when he wasn't paying as much attention to his surroundings as he should have been, Loki would slip up beside him under an invisible shroud and simply look at him. Gaze upon the beauty of his features and the curve and dip of his lips, and feel a kind of forlorn possessiveness. He already knew what Rogers' plan was: to return to the woman he had once loved and finally have the life he had always wanted._

_And Loki couldn't find it in his heart to blame him for that. He couldn't say that he wouldn't have done the same, if he'd had anyone to go back to. And it wasn't as though his heart was any of Rogers' business._

"Well," said Loki with a winning smile, "I wouldn't object to changing that. And you can't exactly _leave_ me here to fend for myself. After all, think of what mischief I might get up to! I promise, Captain, I will be on my very best behavior."

Steve's answering smile was mirthless but oh, so lovely. "I'll make sure of it."


End file.
